Today my good buddy Maverick died.

You were my first fish, and an excellent source of distraction.

I will miss you much.

So I’ve always wanted a pet, but living in a condo pretty much limits a lot of my options.  It also doesn’t help to live with a mom who’s obsessed about maintaining a spotless clean house.  Nonetheless, about 5 months ago, I decided to get a betta fish.  This low maintenance creature seemed like the perfect starter pet for a lazy first time pet owner such as myself.

Maverick is a fierce little guy and curious about everything around him.  The initial car ride home alarmed him a bit, and it was not until later that I learned that bettas are not keen on currents or movements in the water.  But all was well as soon as I introduced him to his new digs, a roomy 1/2 gallon tank.  This was of course, a luxurious upgrade compared to his previous residence, the cramp little holding cup from Petco.  He adjusted quite well, and was almost immediately swimming around happily, investigating his new apt.  Since then, Maverick has gone through 2 more tank upgrades, and I am currently entertaining getting a 3 gallon tank for him.  The little guy has already costed me over a $100.  Low maintenance my ass lol.

Every morning when I come into the office, Maverick greets me by wagging his body back and forth really fast like a little puppy.  I’d like to imagine that he’s happy to see ME, but I know he’s probably just really excited that the food lady is here to feed him again.  It is hard to stare at that bulldog smile without melting a little, and I always give in and feed him a little extra when he really shouldn’t have anymore.  He’s really growing into a little fatty now.

Once in awhile, I feel the need to make him exercise, so I play the “Look!  Here’s a mirror!  Zomg!  It’s another betta!” and he goes nuts.  He really doesn’t need more exercise though because I swear that fish has A.D.D.  He can’t sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time.  I just need to feed him less. 

Maverick has a roommate, a tiny snail named Speedy.  Most of the time, Maverick does not acknowledge his presence.  Every once in awhile though, the snail will catch Maverick on a bad day, and Maverick pretty much goes crazy on him.  He’ll start swimming back and forth and flaring his gills until it looks like they’re about to pop out.  It’s almost like he’s sayin “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN THIS TANK?!  WHY YOU TAKING UP SO MUCH SPACE!??  GET THE FUCK OUT!!!”  But seconds later, he’ll calm down and forget why he was even mad at the little fellah to begin with.

Those are some awful pictures of Maverick which don’t due his beauty justice at all.  But like I said earlier, the little dude won’t freakin stop moving, and 80% of my pictures of him are blurry.

Anyway, just wanted to introduce ya’ll to - Maverick, the love of my life.  <3

~ evelyn